Preservatives

There are two major factors that cause food to go bad: microbes and oxidation. Microbes like bacteria and fungi invade food and feed off its nutrients. Some of these can cause diseases, like listeria and botulism. Others just turn edibles into a smelly, slimy, moldy mess. Meanwhile, oxidation is a chemical change in the food's molecules caused by enzymes or free radicals which turn fats rancid and brown produce, like apples and potatoes. Preservatives can prevent both types of deterioration. Before the invention of artificial refrigeration, fungi and bacteria could run rampant in food. So we found ways to create an inhospitable environment for microbes. For example, making the food more acidic unravels enzymes that microbes need to survive. And some types of bacteria can actually help. For thousands of years, people preserved food using bacteria that produce lactic acid. The acid turns perishable vegetables and milk into longer lasting foods, like sauerkraut in Europe, kimchi in Korea, and yogurt in the Middle East. These cultured foods also populate your digestive track with beneficial microbes. Many synthetic preservatives are also acids. Benzoic acid in salad dressing, sorbic acid in cheese, and propionic acid in baked goods.